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Lobster: Thoughts and tactics

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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I did a bit of taxidermy as a teenager including one small crab for a friend of my sister. I used the technique described in the book "Taxidermy" by John Metcalf:

Detach limbs from body.

Remove all flesh from limbs with with hooked wires.

Remove flesh from main body.

Wash evrything well in running water.

Immerse in 2% formalin solution for 2 to 3 hours.

Remove from formalin and wash thoroughly.

Paint inside with glycerine preservative solution (2/3 glycerine and 1/3 pure phenol)

Cut soft galvanised wires to fit into each limb.

Fill the body and limbs with modelling compound and position the limbs as required.

Support the specimen as needed and allow it to dry.
 
Reactions: James T
I do wonder whether colour fading might be a problem with crustaceans if they are kept for a long time. In fish taxidermy specimens are airbrush painted to restore the colours of a live fish. I'm thinking that a lobster in particular would really need to be painted if it is to look lifelike.

Lots of photos of the fresh specimen, some acrylic piant and a good airbrushing technique required!
 
Hi guys, I have the shell of a 5 of 6 pound spider which was the first animal I caught, cooked and ate myself. from its original bright red just after cooking it has gone now to a very pale salmon pink. Also, over time it seems to have developed cracks all over it and some parts have fallen off because of these cracks. I think you would need a way of stopping it becoming very dried out, the way spiderman suggested would probably do this.

Greg.
 
Shell, like bone is made up of both protein and calcium carbonate. When you cook it you destroy much of the protein leaving just the brittle carbonate. If you want to keep a shell you really need to avoid cooking it.
 
Interesting idea guys, I had an absoloute wopper of a lobbie last year, I've kept the claws, which are still in pretty good nick, but fading a little, considered some sort of varnish or lobster laquer.. but can't be bothered, will just have to go out an keep catching monster lobbies
 
I remember Titus (of the new Crystal Vis spearo co. in Portland) taking a huge Lobster - I think around the 13lb mark, he broke it open carefully after cooking, picked it as clean as he could then left is out in the summer for the ants and bugs to clean it up. Then he reassembled it for show - not sure if it still smelt or whether it held together OK - but it was his antics that got me thinking originally
 
Spiderman said:
Looks like it could do with some colour touch up work as it still looks quite dead. The antennae particularly need to be a much brighter red.
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I wasn't overly impressed seeing as it's a professional job, bit shiny and plastic looking.
If you google lobster taxidermy a few sites come up, one from America with a spiny lobster is pretty good.
 
devondave said:
I wasn't overly impressed seeing as it's a professional job, bit shiny and plastic looking.
If you google lobster taxidermy a few sites come up, one from America with a spiny lobster is pretty good.
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The problem with any kind of taxidermy is that it is really quite hard to do a very good job.

I kept a lobster claw last summer. Just cooked it, cleaned it out as best as I could and then left it out in the sun until it lost most of its smell. I then gave it a scrub inside using a toothbrush and a bit of bleach, rinsed it and brought it inside. It has faded quite a bit but once cooked the colour is messed up anyway so it's not really an issue.
 

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could the lobster/crab not be killed with a a long pin to the brain and then the meat taken out for eating?
 
Fitzy_1982 said:
could the lobster/crab not be killed with a a long pin to the brain and then the meat taken out for eating?
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Good luck in finding a lobster brain!

It would be a crime not to eat the meat.

You can suffocate them in boiled and cooled water if you want a dead intact lobster.
 
Went ormering today in guernsey, last of the decent tides in the ormering season, found a measely 3 ormers...... but got 4 lobsters so i'm happy, will post a pic later. Was hoping to find a wopper but that will have to wait for tomorrow. Also "caught" a tan.
 
After the last enormous tide I am not surprised you only found three ormers, get a few more tomo & wen & they will add up to a feast - incredible weather at the moment, i look like a cooked lobster myself!!
 
yep, think thats what we are going to do, ormers are in the fridge for tomorrow and the lobsters being cooked up now for a monster of a salad to share out in the sun with lots of white wine to "lubricate" said meal
 
The results of an afternoon down the beach cricking in the sun, what do you think to the title, "lobsters in the mist" or "pot of death"? Also pictured are a couple of ormers and the guernsey press for some scale, all lobbies featured were measured properly and had eyesocket to rear carapace lengths of 9cm and above, (Got stick from viewers in the past from photos that didnt show scale)
 

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Reactions: foxfish
Great Job! How do you get these Lobsters out? I assume you weren't diving?
 
nah, i snorkel for them in the summer, but at the moment its too cold (don't have a decent diving suit) its basically pick a good tide and do some advanced rockpooling. Take x1 torch, x1 pokie-stick/hook, find some decent gullies or boulders and get stuck in, same as diving except 50% less wet.
 

Cant give you any more rep mate, but well done!

So give us a story then, how did you entice them out of their homes.
 
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